Sexist Blunders at the Rio Olympics
The Games this year have been spectacularly entertaining. The
gaze of the world has been fixed on the sporting excellence and impressive
abilities of more than 11,000 athletes from 205 countries, competing in 42
different sports. It’s been a feast of nail-biting action, somehow truly loved
by sports fans and the less sportingly-inclined alike.
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| apdnews.com |
My favourite of these victory moments was Japanese wrestler
Risako Kawai, who celebrated her gold medal triumph by slamming her laughing
coach down on the mat twice, before parading him around the arena on her
shoulders. Look it up.
The Olympics have a way of uniting unlikely pairings, and
bringing out a national competitive streak you didn’t even know you had.
Here’s one such pairing, posted on Instagram by gymnast Ragan Smith, of
her meeting basketballer Deandre Jordan:
But one aspect of Rio 2016 which hasn’t represented the peak
of human progress so far has been some people’s attitude towards female
Olympians, who have suffered somewhat more than the male athletes this year, at
times even treated in disgracefully out-dated, sexist ways.
The outraged public took to social media to call out
instances of unequal treatment and to vent its frustration that female athletes
are still not getting the respect their hard work and astounding achievements
deserve.
Let’s take a look at some of those sexist bulls**t moments
that provoked shock and disgust from the online community. I can’t bring myself
to rank these major blunders, so, in no particular order, here they are.
Murray’s Heroic Correction
Often criticised for his lack of charisma in interviews, Andy
Murray won respect and many hearts at this Games when he pointed out John
Inverdale’s mistaken praise. When Inverdale congratulated him on being the ‘first
person ever to win two Olympic tennis gold medals’, Murray quickly replied ‘I think Venus and Serena
have won about four each.’
Excellent from @andy_murray - gold medal in tennis and fighting casual sexism pic.twitter.com/aKrN7RppMB— Pippa (@P_Go) August 15, 2016
You might remember Inverdale from a couple of years ago when
he wondered whether Marion Bartoli’s father had told her when she was young
that she should be 'a scrap', as she was ‘never going to be a looker’, like Sharapova. This was just after she won Wimbledon 2013.
He later sort of apologised, but blamed his slur on his hay fever, which I heard makes you sneezy, not sexist.
He later sort of apologised, but blamed his slur on his hay fever, which I heard makes you sneezy, not sexist.
Bartoli’s response brushed off the comment heroically: ‘It
doesn't matter, honestly. I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact. Have I dreamt
about having a model contract? No. I'm sorry. But have I dreamed about winning
Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes.’
But back to Rio.
The Final Five Team USA Gymnasts Shopping Scandal
This moment came just after the world was knocked off its
feet by Simone Biles’ routine on the beam, and the athletes were waiting for
the scores.
Seeing this team of world-class sportswomen gathered
together, an NBC commentator couldn’t help but be reminded of a familiar sight,
and commented that the Final Five ‘might as well be standing in the middle of a
mall.’ Oh dear. Twitter did not like that.
"They might as well be in a mall"- NBC commentator on the USA gymnasts' group talk after literal world domination #yoursexismisshowing— Megan Lasher (@MeganLasher) August 7, 2016
Takes the Gold for Mansplaining
The Internet reacted with outrage when one male viewer
decided to tweet his cycling tips to Dutch Olympic cyclist Annemiek van
Vleuten. Condescending, much?
And today in 'Men on the Internet' this helpful guy mansplains cycling to an Olympic athlete pic.twitter.com/39qwnXz6HR— Beggie Smalls (@beggie_smalls) August 8, 2016
Corey Cogdell, Wife of…
The Chicago Tribune’s congratulations post was not received
well, mainly because it referred to Olympic medal-winning shooter Corey Cogdell
as ‘Wife of a Bears lineman’. Will a woman ever be able to achieve without the
media focusing on her man?
You spelled "3-time Olympian Corey Cogdell-Unrein wins second bronze medal today in Rio Olympics" wrong. https://t.co/jZSsCYYgkv— Copy McPasty, Writer (@KashannKilson) August 7, 2016
On that note, did we all notice how Simone Biles was called ‘the
Michael Jordan’ of gymnastics, and how her success was compared to Phelps’?
Or how when Hungarian powerhouse swimmer Katinka Hosszu won
gold in the 400-meter individual medley, smashing the world record? Cue NBC
camera to pan to husband/coach: ‘And there’s the man responsible.’ What an embarrassment.
Unlucky Ledecky... but Nice Nails
Swimming champ Katie Ledecky is awesome in her own right.
Sadly, coverage of her amazing world-record-breaking victory was overshadowed
by news of Phelps’ tie at a silver. We understand that Phelps is a big name,
and might sell a few more papers, but this is a shameless under-celebration of
female achievement.
This headline is a metaphor for basically the entire world. pic.twitter.com/5WpQa04N0o— Nancy Leong (@nancyleong) August 14, 2016
However, Ledecky can be grateful that major networks
focused on her sporting achievements, right? Wrong. They were amazed by the
swimmer’s nail care abilities, instead.
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| The offending NBC tweet. Deleted, but not quickly enough. |
Women Fighting = Catfight
Majlinda Kelmendi won gold in the judo final, scoring Kosovo’s
first ever medal in the Olympic Games. No-one could possibly take away from
this history-making achievement. Except that a BBC presenter referred to the incredibly
technical sporting event as a ‘catfight’.
A since-deleted tweet by @jaggings read: ‘I was bored when I thought this
was a serious event between two athletes, but it’s good now I know it’s a
catfight.’
Never mind that this is a massive moment for this athlete and her country, which was only admitted by the IOC in 2014, having declared
independence from Serbia 8 years ago. Now now, that’s not nearly as important
as the entertainment value of two women fighting, right?
Watching women's judo in the OLYMPICS and the announcer refers to it as a "cat fight" 😕— Mark Farina (@MarkAFarina) August 7, 2016
@BBCSport Womens Judo Final - male commentator "it's gonna be a catfight" WTF see if you can find a commentator who's in the 21st century— Liz Roberts (@redliz99) August 7, 2016
Naomi
is an English graduate with an itch to write. Her free time is spent blogging,
reading feminist writing, cycling, cooking and managing her food Instagram
account. Her not-so secret talent is the ability to nap anywhere. Follow her @Songbird_Naomi
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Sexist Blunders at the Rio Olympics
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Friday, August 26, 2016
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Friday, August 26, 2016
Rating:
Unknown
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